It'll Help You
by cucoo4cas
Summary: Jody/Donna. Claire left the Winchesters in a taxi headed for Jody Mills' place. The taxi never got there. Jody and Alex head out to find out what happened to Claire. This is a one shot idea I was toying with, and it's also a teaser for a long fic I'll be working on at some point in the near future. Enjoy!


Sheriff Jody Mills answered the phone on the third ring. She braced herself. Whenever a Winchester was calling, it was never good news. Still, she was glad to help when she could.

"Hey, Dean," Jody said.

"Hey, Jody," Dean said, "Listen, I gotta ask you to do me a solid."

Alex slipped into the kitchen quietly as Jody asked, "Whatcha need?"

"There's, uh, there's this kid. It's complicated, but she needs a place to stay for a bit," Dean said slowly.

Jody sighed. She wasn't exactly running a halfway house here.

"Complicated how?" Jody asked.

Alex cracked open the refrigerator when Dean said, "Pretty complicated."

"Explain it to me, and I'll let you know if I can help," Jody said.

"Jody, I'm not sure you wanna know," Dean said.

Jody put a hand on her hip and said with her best mom voice, "Don't make me drive over there and force it out of you. Tell me what's going on."

Alex slowly retreated to her room.

Jody pushed the phone away from her ear for a moment, "Alex, I know you took one of my beers. Come back here."

Dean chuckled.

"Oh, I am not done with you, mister," Jody said into the phone.

Alex handed Jody the beer she'd swiped sheepishly.

Jody gave her a look and said, "Would you like to tell Dean that he'd better listen to me?"

Alex shrugged. "I'm pretty sure Dean can take care of himself," she said.

Dean laughed again, and Jody said, "Well, that makes one of us. Dean, what's the deal with the kid?"

"Kid?" Alex asked, curiosity piqued.

Dean sighed and said, "It's a long story. Cliff notes version, Claire's the daughter of Cas' meat suit, her mom just died, and she doesn't have anyone."

Jody wasn't touching that meat suit comment with a ten foot pole. "Who's Cas?" she asked.

"Now, that's a long story."

"Dean."

"He's a friend. Wears a trench coat, takes things too literally. He's a dork."

"How old is she?" she asked.

Dean said, "Cas is a dude, Jody."

"No, not Cas. Claire. How old is Claire?" she asked.

"Eighteen."

Shit.

Jody looked at Alex. Alex wasn't much younger than that.

Jody could feel her defenses weakening. "Is she in any danger?" she asked. She only asked, because she did have another kid to think about. But as the words left her mouth, she knew she was already concerned for the girl. Crap.

"I don't think so," Dean said, "She is a handful, though."

Jody laughed and said, "That's par for the course, don't you think?" She asked Alex, "How would you feel about another teenage girl in the house?"

Alex shrugged and said, "As long as she keeps out of my room, I don't care."

"Send her on over," Jody said.

Dean replied quickly, "Thanks, Jody. You're a life saver."

"Well, I try," Jody said.

"We'll have her in a cab to your place so she gets there tonight," Dean said.

"Sounds good," Jody said, "So, how've you been doing lately?"

Dean sighed and said, "Just called to discuss Claire, Jody. Talk to you later."

He hung up, and Jody frowned at her phone. "Something is definitely up with that boy," she said.

Alex smiled and said, "You can't be a mom to everybody."

"I can try," Jody said, "Speaking of which, help me set up the guest room for Claire."

But the cab never came.

When there was still no sign of the taxi the next day, Jody went from worried to grabbing her car keys to head to the station.

"What's going on?" Alex asked, sleepily watching Jody head for her car.

"Claire never showed up last night," Jody said.

"Can I come with you?" Alex asked.

"Why?" Jody asked, "I'm just going to the station. See if we got reports of anything last night."

"If something's going on, I might be able to help," Alex said.

"Or, if something's going on, it could be way too dangerous for you to be with me," Jody said.

Alex gave her a look and said, "If it's dangerous, two pairs of eyes are better than one."

Jody rolled her eyes. "Fine, come on, let's go," she said.

Jody walked into the station with Alex quick on her heels.

"You're not supposed to be in today," the girl behind the front desk said.

Jody sighed and said, "Trust me, I wish I weren't in today either." She and Alex walked further into the police station and headed for Jody's desk.

The sheriff sat in her chair quickly and started scanning for any mention of foul play involving a taxi and a teenage girl. It was a little disheartening how many cases there were involving teenage girls disappearing into taxis.

Before she could dwell on it too much, Jody's phone rang.

"I'll keep looking," Alex said, taking the computer from Jody.

Jody stood up, nodded at Alex, and answered the phone. "Sheriff Mills speaking," she said.

"Jodio!" Donna said overly brightly.

Jody took a deep breath and said, "Hi, Donna. Now's not really a good-"

"I quit my job," Donna said quickly.

"What?" Jody asked, "Why? What's going on?"

"I, uh, working with Doug was, uh, not the greatest. So, I quit," Donna said.

"What are you going to do?" Jody asked. Surely, Donna had bills or something that made this abrupt career decision less than ideal.

"I don't know..." Donna said quietly, "But, uh, I'll figure it out. It'll be totally fine, I'm sure."

Jody sighed. Why was everyone so insistent on messing up their lives?

She was about to say something when Alex said, "Jody, look."

Jody turned around to see Alex pointing at a recent report of an abandoned taxi cab where the driver's eyes had been burnt out.

"Shit," Jody said.

Donna asked, "What's going on, Jodster?"

Jody said, "I may need your help. You think you can meet me in Lawrence, Kansas?"

"Of course, Jody. I'll be there lickety split," Donna said. She hung up before Jody could tell her any details. Minnesota to Kansas was going to be a hike for her, but of course, the trip Jody had planned from Sioux Falls wasn't going to be any easier.

"What do you think causes somebody's eyes to do that?" Jody asked.

Alex shrugged and said, "I've never seen anything like that."

"Alright, we'll call the boys from the road. Are you coming?" Jody asked.

Alex grinned and asked, "Can I drive?"

"Only if I get really, really tired. C'mon," Jody said.

After the first hundred miles, Alex was behind the wheel, and Jody was trying to call Dean yet again.

Finally, on only the eighth attempt to get through, Dean answered his damn phone. "Hi, Jody, we're kind of-"

"What kind of monster makes people's eyes burn out of their heads?" Jody asked.

Dean asked, "You got a case for us?" Jody could practically hear Sam's ears perk up.

"Not exactly. Claire never got here, but there is a weird taxi thing in Lawrence, Kansas. The driver's eyes were burnt out. Lawrence is kind of on route to Sioux Falls from Tulsa, so it might've been-"

"Son of a bitch."

"What?"

"We'll check it out."

"We're already on our way, I just-"

"Jody, it's too dangerous, I don't-"

"Well, if you answered your phone the first thousand times I called, maybe I wouldn't be already a third of the way-"

"Angels, Jody. Angels burn out people's eyes."

Jody's breath caught. Angels? Angels killing people. No, Jody did not like this at all.

But a kid was missing.

"We're coming, Dean. By all means, get cracking on it before we get there, but we're not sitting this out," Jody said.

Dean sighed and said, "Fine. See you there."

He hung up, and Alex looked over at Jody. "Did he say angels?" she asked.

Jody nodded and turned on the radio. If they were going to deal with some heavy duty shit, there would at least be good music beforehand.

Five hours later, Jody pulled up to the stretch of road that the taxi had been found on. Sam and Dean stood in official looking suits with a cop, talking about something.

Jody looked at Alex with a no nonsense look and said, "Stay in the car."

Alex sighed but didn't protest.

Jody stepped out and joined the boys. "Well, was it her?" she asked. The cop gave Jody a once over and gave a confused glance to Sam and Dean.

Dean motioned for Jody to follow him as Sam said, "Sheriff Mills has been tracking the missing girl for a while. We've been working closely with her on this."

Dean took Jody over to where the taxi had been. The tracks from the tow truck were still visible in the grassy bank beside the road. "I looked at the body of the driver. This was the cab we put her in," Dean said quietly, "We should've driven her ourselves. It's just...she's not the kind of girl who appreciates being babied. But we should've taken her to you. This wouldn't be happening."

Jody said quickly, "We'll find her, don't worry. Any reason an angel would've taken her?"

Dean laughed a bitter laugh. "A reason? Pick one. She's Cas' vessel's kid, so she could easily be targeted to get revenge against him. She left with a highly powerful angel sword in her bag. That might be something an angel would've wanted," he said.

Jody nodded. The girl was a walking target. Of course she was.

"Do we have any leads?" Jody asked.

Dean ran a hand roughly through his hair.

Before he could say what they both knew, his phone rang. He grabbed his phone and said, "Cas?"

Jody looked at Dean with anticipation. Did Cas know what was going on with Claire?

"What do you mean where's Claire? No, I-yeah, there was an issue with the taxi driver. Looks like angels. No, I haven't-wait, she called you?" Dean said into his phone. God, Jody wished she could hear the other side of this phone call. "Okay, we'll meet you there," Dean said. He hung up and said, "Claire called Cas. She on the run, heading for the gas station up the road from here."

"Let's go, we'll follow you," Jody said.

Dean nodded and signaled to Sam to wrap it up with the cop.

Jody hurried back to the car. She updated Alex on the situation and got ready to follow the Impala to go find Claire.

Jody saw a man in a trench coat that she assumed was Cas before she saw Claire. She was only made aware of the blonde teenage girl when Cas looked across the street with fear in his eyes and shouted, "Claire!"

Jody and Dean pulled their cars to a stop at the gas station quickly. Somebody had grabbed Claire from behind, holding a weird knife to her throat.

Jody had her gun drawn and trained on the guy's head before she could realize what she was doing.

"Put down your weapons," the assailant said stoically.

Jody looked at Dean, and Dean glanced at Cas before lowering his own weapon.

"Angel?" Dean asked Cas.

Cas nodded slowly.

"Shit," Dean said. He dropped his gun to the ground.

Sam followed suit.

Jody wasn't so easily swayed. She had a good shot, she could end this hostage situation before it got any worse.

"Lower your firearm. Do not make me do something unpleasant to this girl," the angel warned.

"Jody," Dean said, "Listen to him."

Jody looked at Claire. The angel pressed the blade closer to breaking the skin of her neck. Jody lowered her gun and set it on the ground.

"Why are you doing this?" Cas asked, radiating with anger.

The man holding Claire said evenly, "Leverage against the great Castiel is not something to pass up lightly."

Suddenly, the angel whipped around, releasing Claire, and grabbing someone behind him. It was Donna. Fuck.

Claire ran to Cas as Jody grabbed her gun and fired three rounds into the guy's head. He still held onto Donna as he reached behind him and pulled a small knife out of his back.

Donna Hanscum had stabbed an angel in the back. Holy shit.

The angel wasn't reacting to any of the rounds of ammo Jody had wasted. Instead, he took Donna's knife and stabbed her in the chest with it.

"No!" Jody shouted, rushing forward.

Dean got there first. He grabbed the angel by his hair and slammed him into the ground.

Jody ran to Donna where she lie crumpled on the ground.

"Guess the knife didn't cut it," Donna said with a soft, forced laugh. Jody knew better than to pull the blade out of Donna's chest. It would only make matters worse.

"You're gonna be okay," Jody said, "You're gonna be fine."

Behind her, Dean smashed the angel's head against the ground roughly. Again. And again. And again.

"Dean," Sam said, concern dripping from his voice. Dean grabbed the angel's blade and stabbed him in the chest with it. The angel started to glow, and Jody focused back on Donna.

Donna's eyes closed.

"No, no, hey. Donna, wake up, look at me," Jody said. She grabbed Donna's hand tightly.

Cas knelt beside Donna and removed the knife from her chest.

"Hey," Jody said, starting to protest.

Cas quickly touched two fingers to Donna's clavicle, and the quirky sheriff's eyes shot open. She gasped and sat up looking from Jody to Cas, confused.

"What just happened, Jody?" Donna asked.

Cas said, "You've been healed."

Jody released a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. She slowly helped Donna stand up. "Are you okay?" Jody asked.

Donna nodded.

"Good," Jody breathed. This was too much for one day. New kid to take care of. Angels. Donna. Too much. Way too much.

Jody walked over to Claire and said, "I hear Dean and Sam want you to stay with me."

Claire looked away from her. "Yeah, well, I don't have to do what they want," she said.

"What do you want?" Jody asked.

Claire shrugged and looked at her shoes.

Jody said quietly, "Look, you can do whatever you want to do. I can offer you a roof over your head and a good meal. I can give you safety and a weird kind of family if you want it. But if that's not what you want, I'm not gonna force you to come with me."

Claire nodded and muttered, "A meal sounds kinda nice."

Claire quickly hugged Sam, Dean, and Cas goodbye.

"Stay out of trouble this time," Dean called after her.

Claire smiled and joined Jody. Jody and Donna waved to the boys as they got in the Impala and drove off.

Jody put an arm around Claire and said, "C'mon and meet Alex. She's about your age and used to live with a nest of vampires. I feel like you two will get along famously."

Alex got out of Jody's car and, surprisingly, started to awkwardly make small talk with Claire.

Jody looked at Donna and asked, "So, what are you going to do now that you quit your job?"

Donna shrugged. "Who knows? I'll come up with something," she said.

Jody said, "Well, if you don't come up with something, you're always welcome to come back with me to Sioux Falls."

"What? Are you sure?" Donna asked, her eyes lighting up excitedly.

"Yeah," Jody said, "With these two kids under one roof, we could use another sheriff around."

Donna smiled brightly and said, "I'll follow you in my car. Thank you so much!"

Donna squeezed Jody in a tight hug that almost lifted Jody off the floor. She was certainly going to have to get used to her enthusiasm. Donna's demeanor made her excitability kind of endearing, though.

After they got back to Sioux Falls, everything started to happen really quickly. Alex turned eighteen in a few months' time. Claire and Alex both enrolled in the Sioux Falls community college. Donna moved her life over to South Dakota in only a couple of weeks. It was impressive really. Donna moved in with Jody and the girls right away, but it was supposed to be temporary. When she got a job at Jody's precinct, Donna talked about moving out, but they both sort of knew it was never going to happen. Jody had gotten used to having Donna around, and it was much easier to keep the teenage rebels out of Jody's stash of beer with two sets of eyes.

When Claire turned twenty, it started becoming rather clear that having Donna around was nicer than just having backup with Claire and Alex. It was more comfortable than living with a good friend. On Alex's twentieth birthday, Jody kissed Donna for the first time.

They got married the following year.

Things were good, life was good. It was the best Jody had felt since her life had fallen apart all those years ago. It felt like the broken pieces of her were finally coming back together. They still did their jobs as sheriffs. They still hunted supernatural things that got too close to home. They still called the boys when cases got a little too weird for them. And it was great.

A few weeks after Claire's twenty-third birthday, a knock came at the door.

"Alex, could you get that, honey?" Donna called from the kitchen. Jody handed her wife a dish to dry as they slowly cleaned up everything after dinner.

"Claire!" Alex called, "Door!"

Claire walked past the kitchen to the front door when a boy suddenly appeared in a rush of wind behind Jody and Donna.

Jody shouted in alarm. How the hell had a twenty something year old kid just popped into her kitchen out of the blue like that? Jody's surprised shout caused Claire, Alex, and two others to rush to the kitchen.

"Who is this? Who are they? What's going on?" Jody stammered.

Claire slammed a brunette about her age into the kitchen wall, holding a knife to her throat. "Who the hell are you?" Claire said.

"Damn it, Jesse. People use doors. You ever heard of 'em?" a boy said.

The girl under Claire's knife said, "I'm Krissy Chambers, this is Ben Braeden, and the idiot that scared you guys is Jesse. We need Claire Novak's help."

Jody didn't know what to make of any of this. She looked at Donna, but she seemed just as perplexed as Jody felt.

Claire asked, "Need my help? With what?"

Jesse faced Claire and said evenly, "The end of the world."


End file.
